For Every Time I Said No
by RinarinaXP
Summary: She promised him she would keep the team together. They promised one day everyone would be together. Sasusaku this is my first story, be nice and review!
1. Reality

There was a part of all of us that left when he died. I screamed out my sadness into my best friend and tried not to blame myself for his death. I desperately wanted an escape, I wanted everything to be okay again. It was so simple when we had started. Those bells. Those damn bells. Then we did it again. Now, here's the dysfunctional second family being torn apart again. 'I could've saved him...' I thought to myself. No, this was all a sick joke he was playing. Or maybe he had to flee and faked his death. Yes, somewhere out there in the world he was alive. I refused to believe otherwise. Any person that told me otherwise from the funeral on I would simply ignore. He's not gone, he never left us. Still here, standing with my best friend surrounding me in his arms. That's how I choose to stay for now. I don't really even care that he has someone blindly in love with him and he is starting to acknowledge her. He is mine now, until I get over this "fake death". I can't take this anymore I think I'm breaking apart all over again. I didn't need this and neither did anyone else. No one even expected it which didn't make it better. I carefully tried to "fake mourn" our "loss". After awhile, people would start to think I'm crazy I supposed. After all I'm the only one who figured out he faked his death. It's all a dirty trick by some evil forcing him to leave. As long as he's alive, I can be happy. I paced my mind throughly thinking of explanations. I found none...so I guess even my mind refuses my crazy idea he's not dead. No, his face is too calm it's not him. I can't take it I'm going crazy. We need him back. The team needs to be reunited. Everyone, all together for once. I think I finally accepted it. One day when all of us die, there will be a nice reunion. In heaven, where everyone is together. It's just painful to accept he left us too early.

I walked away from Naruto, silently praying he wouldn't follow. I wanted to admit to my problems by myself to myself. I walked past my own house, going to a place I had never been. The Uchiha grounds were tattered and broken but I could still see the glimmer of the past in some of the shops and houses that were strangely well preserved. I didn't know where Sasuke had lived in his time here, but I figured it would be quiet and no one would think I had come here. I walked into the biggest house I could find and saw pictures of his family. Of course, this was his old house; the biggest house possibly in Kohona. I stared in awe at the vast spaces. I saw a ripped door still standing but barely. I carefully walked through and stood still when I saw what was there. Blood marks, on the ground in the shape of two bodies lying on top of eachother. It almost reminded me of the recent death. I broke down and fell to the ground sobbing uncontrollably knowing Sasuke had witnessed this as a young child with actual bodies of his parents there and his brother standing over them like a madman, betraying everything Sasuke had looked up to in his young years. I stopped crying and sat there against the wall, having nothing left to say to myself. What had happened here, was ridiculously tragic. I couldn't bring myself to stand up and lay there for the rest of the night, with tears still flowing down my face. I woke up with a strange feeling. I didn't know where I was, or why I was there until I looked over and saw the marks on the ground. I scared myself and ran up and out the door. I walked through the ghostly kitchen and saw a back door leading to a waterfront. I walked out and sat on the vast dock watching the water ripple when I hit it with my hand. I made bigger and bigger waves, until I ended up making a huge tidal wave with my chakra. I walked on to the water, gracefully almost flying over the water to the edges as though I was ice skating. It was warm outside, and I decided to test out some simple elemental jutsus Naruto, Tsunade and some teammates had taught me throughout the years. All of them were weak, though I was pretty good at the wind and water justus. I sat on the water and looked out at the wind gathering up speed blowing leaves around. Finally, I decided to get up and walk back to Kohona and go back to my house to clean myself up. Iran atop the trees and roofs to my house trying to avoid everyone. I felt someone was following me and picked up some speed getting to my house. I climbed through my window and shut it fast. I guessed it wasn't fast enough because as soon as I sat down on my bed sighing relief, I heard a deep voice say "Hello Sakura". I think that's when I fainted...


	2. Hope

I dreamed silently of a day of peace. There are some things you dream and then theres the things actually do. A dream I supposed it was. The wonderful things in life I had appreciated were much more appreciated knowing I was in the presence of a familiar but slightly threatening being. Had I known who was there and what would happen maybe I wouldn't have been so afraid. Of course without being afraid I may have just ruthlessly harmed him for no good reason other than he sounded threatening. I screamed in my head to do something about my current situation on the floor. I didn't even know if he was still there. I needed to know, who this man saying my voice in such a way my insides melted. I didn't open my eyes for a while, but familiar meant ninja so I assumed he knew I was now awake. Then, I heard that voice again letting me know he was here. It sounded so familiar I had to stop and think how close I had ever been for it to be such an intense feeling when I heard him.

"You can open your eyes, I won't hurt you."

there was a slight cry in his lovely voice, like a pang of guilt or sadness or even both. I wanted to speak but my heart took over my brain and my old self had emerged again from years ago.

"You. I know who you are. You're so familiar..."

No, this wasn't going to end well it never would especially because of how familiar this voice was and it definitely wasn't too friendly although I found comfort somewhere within me. Then it hit me when I inhaled his closeness and smelled the famous scent of someone we had been looking for all along. Yes, the lost one had returned. Was it on a whim, force, choice or need? I was so breath taken by his beauty that had matured since I had last encountered him in a fight unfortunately. I wanted desperately to feel his touch again, even a brush of the shoulder and I would be able to know his mood. I had always been the one in the team who knew what he was feeling which was mostly anger and irritation, from me announcing his mood constantly. I could understand as I got older how annoying I must have been. My inner self had not reappeared since he left Kohona. I wanted to be at peace with him and until I was, I would not be at peace with my inner self which desired his peaceful and protective side that had stood up for me various times in our young years. I knew now I could easily hurt him but he was still probably on a higher level by far. He had killed so many, escaped us too quickly, and hurt us too much.

I felt a tear run down my cheek. Instinctively I supposed, he brushed his hand to wipe it away. There was all the memories rushing into me. Every moment alone, every time I protected him, saved him, cried for him, mourned him leaving, every time he protected me, gave a glimmer of hope to us all, everything. I let the tears continuously run down silently because my vocal chords seemed to cease movement for quite some time in awe.

I wanted desperately now to put away my inner self that had witnessed this hope-filled situation. So many scenarios ran through my mind I was hoping he could stop my thoughts with his voice. I leaned into him and sobbed out every bad moment we had shared with and without each other. He held me closer than I expected and I looked up at his heavenly face and saw what I didn't think was even possible. Waterfalls cascading down his defined features landing onto his almost bare chest. I almost smiled in a twisted way, happy because he was sad. Never had I seen him cry before. Stone cold heart had hope, everywhere here I felt hope swirling into tears he shed. They weren't fading tears of hope, they left with grace. Such a grace he shimmered in the now moonlight giving new meaning to sparks of hope to me. I inwardly laughed how much has happened and barely one word was shared between us. I didn't know how long this would last so I savored every last beat of his heart and mine so close along with every tear we both shed over so many things. I pulled away a little, and looked right into his beautiful onyx eyes. So deep I thought, he has so much pain to share. Wiping his tears as a thank you to his favor to me, I ran my hand over his face and lightly ran through his hair and found something so surprising I almost fainted again. It was dried but knowing how tough he liked to be, I figured the blood was from an untreated wound. How many had died for him to be here? I prayed it wasn't any but the hair lied right to my theory proving it wrong. As I moved my eyes across him I noticed something even worse. New blood still bleeding on his arm. I instinctively started healing his arm. He tried to pull me off but I roughly refused. I could not let him die here without saying anything of his tears. I was afraid of death, I had took that rule I Iearned and threw it out for a moment gasping at the damage done when I checked him all over. He started to gasp to for some well needed oxygen. I was to force him to survive and if my own chakra supply risked my life, so be it. I would never let him go so soon. Things were becoming so cloudy and confusing to me as I kept healing him. I wanted to bring him to the hospital but after healing him I couldn't bring myself to and he wrapped his arms around me to keep me from falling. We guided each other to the bed and both collapsed, I hoped for him to stay this time...

**A/N: I need some encouragement for this story :] reviews, comments, feel free to suggest more ideas for the plot and some more characters, I'm not sure where this story is going... **


	3. Trigger

I was awaking slowly as my mind entered slowly back into reality. Gasping for air I heard hushed voices, suddenly raising as they noticed I was awaking. To be honest I had no idea what had just happened. All I felt was a remnant of unknown pain still lingering there reminding me I was not fully healed. The question was, healed from what?

"I-I'm in the h-hospital... Right?"

For some reason I felt barely strong enough to speak but maybe it was from sleeping so much and being lazy for who knows how many hours or even days. Looking up at who had spoken I saw my mentor. Feeling a little better and confident enough to speak I started asking questions.

"Why am I here and what happened and for how long have I been out?"

She handed me my patient sheet knowing I would understand it seeing as I usually worked here. I summarized it to be major injuries to my head, chest and arm with minor cuts. None of the previous memories before I blacked out were coming to me, I was pretty scared at who had done this to me. According to the sheet I had been here for almost a week now and no responsive movements to anything until yesterday when I nodded or something like that. I didn't know what to say anymore, everything would come back to me sooner or later I just needed a trigger. I wanted so badly to figure out who and what had gone on, but all anyone knew was I was obviously in an intense battle. I was suffering from temporary amnesia the only problem was I needed to know now not later. As I got up the pain started to subside because I adapted well to the injuries as I have had them many times before. I would be off of missions for a long time, and if anyone attacked me again I would not survive if they had the intent to kill. I was scared for myself and the village. Had anyone else been battling as I had? No normal citizen would be able to defend themselves against a major threat even to shinobis here. I was careful as I got up off the bed and retrieved my belongings. On top of them was a note from Tsunade exclaiming how I should rest and some discharge papers. I sighed and got dressed and took the discharge papers to the front to release me. I wondered what my house would look like when I got home, considering I had no idea where this fight took place. I wondered along the streets blindly to my house, thinking inwardly about almost everything. As I walked a few teammates waved hello and I waved if I noticed. As I approached my house I slowed down, hoping for the best. I walked inside to find everything surprisingly cleaner than it was before. It was interesting how much things have changed in Kohona. I'm sure _he _would be pleasantly surprised, if had a good bone in his body that is. As I walked around I saw that there was a note on my kitchen counter from my parents. Of course, they would be here visiting when I was in the hospital.

_Dear Sakura,_

_We hope you are having a wonderful life as a shinobi, keep the Haruno name proud. We were visiting on a vacation away from our usual home and my god, your house was a mess! Well, mom has cleaned it all up and we hope you feel better! Feel free to send us letters and updates, we will let you know the next time we plan to return to Kohona. _

_ Have fun and please be safe,_

_ Mom and Dad._

Wonderful. I looked around for any mistake in the cleaning, but as usual there was none. I took the letter and stuck it on my wall with the rest of their useless letters. I never really despised my parents I loved them, I just felt more independent when I moved out against their orders to become stronger. Things were always strained with them, so we tried not to keep that much in contact because of my choices in life. I walked upstairs and slammed into my bed, and realized a memory was being triggered by this bed.

'_Sakura...' I saw the tears. Then I saw his face._

I shuddered at the thoughts creeping into my head and shook them away. I abruptly changed my sheets and took a shower. Cleaning off and doing a little healing of bruises I went downstairs and decided to not sleep on my bed until I could rid myself of the vague memory I hated to repeat. Was everything now a dream, could that have not been real? No, it was definitely because a letter in the mail had arrived and explained where my now dead first sensei was buried. Along with it was a few condolence letters, a picture of team 7 from a mysterious address...wait. Why is there no return address? I looked and looked and realized who it must be from. With only two other people left in team 7, only one would put the return address while the other probably didn't even have a home. He needed a home, I was now determined to encounter him again and give him the home he needs. I laid myself down on the couch, and found another memory creeping into my head. A memory so unfamiliar I couldn't even believe it was mine.

_'Sakura, I was never here. I'm sorry I had to fight you I will leave you outside and yell for help. I will then leave and everything will be okay. You gave me no choice. Yes, I am an asshole. Goodbye and again, thank you.'_

The memory ended, but those last words in my head let me know exactly who it was. So, I was assuming I was angry and had every right to be. I wanted to find more memories, but at the same time I was afraid I might find a little more than just memories.


	4. Peace

**Sorry I've been really busy. Here it is! **

**Sorry it's really short hehe, its hard to be sad when you're so happy :] 3(yes I have taken interest in a significant other. Although, I don't think he's THAT significant, yet.)**

Slowly waking up, Sakura lifted her arms to cover the sunlight now bothering her eyes. Walking out out of bed she went and got ready for a nice day of relaxing with herself. Usually, she would be with all of her friends but today was a reflection day alone. A day to think over everything and try and find him. A secret rescue mission. She knew where to find him if he was actually planning on coming back here at all. Feelings had not changed, she jumped tree to tree finally reaching her destination. Sitting there, was none other than _him_. She was glad he was still alive and here, although it pained her to see he was at the grave of someone who all of them had looked up to. Not one word was said and already she was there, next to him begging for his return. The team he had made obviously had either gone to complete missions under his orders or abandoned him. Either way, he could stay here. She would make a home for him, let him know what is here for him. Not one person doubted his motives. Everyone had known he wasn't going to attack his home. Home. She felt weird, uncomfortable saying he had a home after all these years. It sure didn't seem like his home was here the way he kept running away.

"Kakashi... wanted you home."

"I know."

"Please, come home. We need you here. We fought so hard for you, you can't throw us away like we're NOTHING!" it hit him hard the way she said it.

"I'm not CRAP to you am I? IS THERE NOT ONE PART OF YOU THAT WOULD CARE IF I DIED RIGHT NOW?"

"You know thats not true..."

"DO I? Because it seems like you don't give one shit about this place, the people in it. Not one person here... not even the ones who cared enough to try and bring you back..."

"Yes."

"I can't stand you."

"Leave."

"No."

"Why?"

"Now you're interested?"

"I told you I'd care..." he silenced himself quickly.

"Oh..."

"Hn."

"Please. Stay with us. Naruto or me, until we figure out how to get you back here forever."

"I can't."

"WHY IS IT SO HARD TO HAVE BONDS? Let us help you please."

"I don't need help. My team is waiting for me. We are going to complete our mission. Do not get in the way."

"Right. I am an annoyance to your PATHETIC, SELFISH life."

"No. Our mission is here."

"Wha...-"

"-I'm sorry...for everything"

Then he was gone. Left was his headband, slightly scratched up but not betrayed in any way. Walking back to her house she cried, maybe her tears could find him one day again... he was never really gone. Every time he had left he ended up back here. How could she get in the way though? Did he say sorry and mean it? The fragments of memories were all around her, the happiness they had shared was drifting apart from itself if that was even possible. The team was what she needed to find. His team and their plans here. What business does he have here? She couldn't stand the thought of him attacking here, but it was the only possibility she could find. Unless, he was only attacking a certain person or object. Something so important, she would be called to protect and of course get in his must be to destroy or steal otherwise he wouldn't be a threat to her. She didn't want to say anything to anyone and was terrified someone would figure out she was hiding something. Even she did not know what that something was...

The days had gone by extraordinarily fast and to her it seemed as though each day a new discovery was made bringing her closer and closer to what she assumed was the end of this chapter. Things needed to return to normal but those dark abysmal eyes showed her otherwise. The luminescent orange flowing from him fought still against the one they wanted back. Why was it always this way? They always fought over absolutely nothing other than the fact they had shared a bond. Was it so hard to accept the other as a friend or a brother? Memories were kept to be recalled into the future. For future reference, for something to think about when nothing else is left. Everything was calm now, so she thought. No pain, no fighting, although there was some mysteries she still felt peace throughout the village and herself. Death was never to phase her unless it was someone important as Kakashi was to her and the rest of his close comrades and teammates and even friends.


	5. War

**I'm gonna update again, because I felt bad for making you all (like 5 people... -_-) wait. So here it goes, I may redo this chapter or fix it up in the future. Please review, it helps me improve my writing! [Oh and if anyone can tell me how to make the sentences space apart more please let me know, I use Open Office and double spacing on Open Office apparently doesn't space the sentences apart because whenever I look over the story it's a little cramped and hard to read]**

Awoken by noises coming from a mysterious source, she crawled out of bed to get changed and noticed how gloomy the light was outside. Time of day was definitely morning so there should be some natural daylight, however there were only clouds. Until she had looked further, she did not notice the cloud was a mysterious foggy smoke coming from somewhere. As soon as she noticed the people running, her ninja impulses kicked in and she ran out of her house onto the roof looking for an answer to why her beloved Kohona was being ambushed. All around was complete chaos, she figured this was the plan Sasuke had been talking about seeing as his name was screamed throughout the lively death filled village. Everyone would fight his team, which was probably why all she saw were bodies. Bodies of the fallen teammates she had come to associate with and work with as comrades and even friends. Passing some still fighting, not one even bothered to look at her. They were all just too engrossed in their own fights. Blood was everywhere, she couldn't see too straight because of the smoke and more flying weapons came hurling towards her general direction trying to kill anything they could. Knowing exactly where he'd be was only the beginning of the plan she had devised. Kohona was over, without the elders there that he had probably killed already she knew there was really nothing left to control the village the way they did. Besides Tsunade of course, but she definitely would not want to take on even more work than she already had. Kohona was ended, a new village would form after time she supposed and maybe the Uchiha clan could be revived without being shunned and massacred. The whole story was revealed in secret files she had discovered while wandering about Itachi's old dusty room. This was why he lost it all, this place was why he left and this place was where he came back to destroy. No, she couldn't let this happen to her village. Team 7 was almost replica of the 3 great sannin and her being with Tsunade practically made her substitute Hokage (if Kakashi denied the job or was dead first). Naruto was seen as soon to be Hokage and at this rate he might as well take the job now; she couldn't imagine what Tsunade looked like at this point of chaos. Everything seemed to be falling apart but the Hokage tower stood tall with few cracks and burns scattered about. No one ever questioned the elders or Hokages safety, it was known they were always protected. Of course, she knew Sasuke was about 50 times stronger and manipulative than all of the security for both combined. Quickly running through the village she reached the elders emergency escape exit. Sasuke and her both knew this exit as they had take a long tour with Naruto looking for all the secrets of Kohona (of course avoiding the Uchiha compound at the time). Sakura wondered, did he remember those times when they were younger? Quickly snapping into her defensive mode after realizing her loss of focus, she snuck inside seeing everything destroyed in anger she assumed. Keeping her silence, she carefully listened for any sign of him. It was a miracle she even thought this way to expect him in this village. Still, she knew what she had to do. Walking towards the wall trying to find his chakra, she heard a woman.

"Come on Sasssukkeee. Let's just leave them we don't need anyone else but eachotherrrr"

"No. Go get Suigetsu and Juugo" Her breath froze as she heard his voice. Every memory came back, every touch, every yell, every insult, just everything. Bringing her calm facade back, she carefully rounded the corner seeing him standing there alone. Alone, like he was for his whole life. Unwilling to let her hold him, understand him. Unwilling to let her be of importance to him as Naruto obviously was to him. It was a secret, but she envied Naruto and him being so close. It made her want to be with them, want to feel like an actual part of the team instead of just being best friends with only Naruto. At the point when she came back from training after Sasuke left the first time, she had given up on love. Being with Tsunade gave her excuses to go out and drink herself into mens arms. Of course she had always brought Ino or Hinata to make sure she wasn't too rambunctious but usually she only stayed with one man a night or kept a nice relationship with one for a few weeks. True, she had never given much thought about marrying or settling down. Being with Tsunade made her more of a free spirited flirt, rather than looking for something serious. She had been single for a year now though, and hadn't had one sip of alcohol the entire time. Saving lives at the hospital kept her more occupied and less inclined to go out and drink with friends. She'd been pretty distant actually from all of her friend besides Naruto. Now, she was with Sasuke whom seemed to not even acknowledge her presence. Casually, he glanced over to her and motioned her with his hand to come closer as if he was someone higher than her which technically he was strength wise.

"You know why I'm here."

"I do."

"Well? Care to explain the chaos outside and the fact something obviously has been going on with you appearing in Kohona and seeing me and then I wake up from a mysterious fight I don't remember? You were a part of it, I remember hearing you. I remember seeing you..."

"Aa."

"And...?"

"I'm done here."

"No, you're not. You are far from done. You want to revive your clan don't you? I know though, I know about Madara. He won't let you until you give Naruto to him. This is the catch though, you didn't know that he wants him to completely wipe out everything and start over. So how do you plan on getting your life back?"

"I don't."

"You're pathetic. You run after all these goals, you kill the one person who just wanted to protect you. Now, you're killing the whole village just because of the elders ruining your life. You've gone absolutely mad."

"Hn."

"You don't need to kill everyone. I...I can help you. I'll do anything to help you. Let me please."

"Why."

"I don't want to be a burden to you..."

"Then go away."

"I remember you though! I remember you crying! Don't think I don't! I know you have FEELINGS. I know... that somewhere inside, you care."

"No."

"So let me help you because you know you need it."

"I don't."

"Yes you do. I know where they are. I can distract the guards. I can send them away."

"Fine, do as you please. Follow."

She followed, afraid of how we would kill them. So much anger just rising up inside of him. It was painful to see someone like that. They walked into the room and he motioned her first to send the guards away. It felt nice to be teamed with him again, as though they were still in team 7 just without Naruto. Walking to the guards, she whispered something into one of their ears and he reported to every other guard and into his headset. They all motioned away and she looked into the elders faces. They looked old and tired, and confused as to why she was here.

"Here you go..."

She handed them a scroll she had been meaning to give to them anyway. Sasuke took this as a signal as he should and he jumped out in rage.

"Sakura, get back or die."

Not needing any more warning she jumped back behind a wall she assume would probably be destroyed and saw his eyes start to bleed the horrible red she despised seeing.

"THIS IS FOR ITACHI!"

He ran towards them with sheer anger, it was colder in her heart suddenly. Everything was numb to her, his hatred had blocked out her own warmth and filled the air with death. He punched them all in the face smiling because he had already started winning. The elders couldn't put much of a fight up anymore after the first few attacks of plain old sword fighting. He stabbed each of them a few times and they even managed to puncture him in the stomach, but he was okay with it it never bothered him. Then, he started attacking with "Susanno." Afraid, she backed up even more and watched in horror as they were tortured alive. After he was done with his revenge she fell down to the ground in fear. It was unbearable to see someone be so... full of hate but he didn't seem to be done yet, and that made it even worse.

"Amaterasu."

The burning elders seemed to keep screaming in her head making her shake. Her sobs were drowned by their current screams but slowly becoming louder as they faded away into death. Stopping her sobs she kept shaking and saw Sasuke walking towards her. He bent down and sat right next to her on the wall. His face was full of happiness and confusion, hatred and pain.

"I don't know how to feel anymore."

"Me either."

"I-... I'm. I'm sorry for doing this to you."

"Why? This is my own fault for letting myself come here. I wanted this and I got what I deserve. You did what you felt was right.."

There was no real way to describe how she felt anymore after seeing him so filled with hate. Such a hate she couldn't believe existed.

"It's over... it's all okay now?"

"I would guess so..."

"I don't know what to do."

"Go home."

"Home?"

"Naruto and me and Kakashi. We're home, we never wanted your clan to die. We never knew who Itachi really was, I'M sorry. I wish we could've known before you killed him... but it was the way he wanted it. So let's go home and forget for a while that you're in Akatsuki and working with Madara. He'll get you when he needs you but right now, WE need you. Okay?"

"Yeah... Team 7..."

They got up and held each other. For the longest time, he stood there holding her because he didn't know what else to do. There was no Itachi, no Kohona basically, no elders and he had killed Danzo long ago. All there was, was Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi and the people who still cared about him. Who still wanted him even though he was a criminal. They broke away after the moment ended, realizing the situation they had been in. Embarrassed, They looked away from each other and walked forward into the darkness of the night that had now fallen over a destroyed Kohona.

**Ideas for the next chapter anyone? REVIEW (or... Madara will go Toby on you and talk/annoy you to death. :D)**


	6. Felicity

Recovering from the second destruction of Kohona in a year was hard for every ninja. All civilians were slowly coming to collect whatever was left of theirs and moving to different villages temporarily. Sasuke was looked away from, but team 7 kept him close and he helped restore his old home.

Quietness was rare but during the memorial it was there. The inevitable silence was there but it brought on a sense of halcyon. The world was crying but no one in Kohona was unhappy about where they were anymore. It was not a another ninja war yet and that was all that mattered at those moments. Houses were rebuilt by Yamato and others with earth elements. Every ninja used their elements to rebuild Kohona. Even Sakura had punched in a few useless buildings to make room, helped with her inhumane strength to carry stones and trees away to clear up the mess Madara and Sasuke had made along with Akatsuki.

No one had bothered to gossip about Sasuke because restoring Kohona was exhausting. Occasionally a civilian would volunteer at makeshift hospitals and help clear up their old homes very silently but it became more rare as time went on. Weeks went by and most ninja lived in the new Hokage tower, and of course Sasuke lived on the outskirts that weren't as damaged in his compound.

Only Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi had been there for him. No one else knew where he was, no one saw the damage of trees he made. The indignation was overwhelming and most days he was left alone. The last thing anyone voluntarily wanted to do. All around a lonely Sasuke were busy denizens of Kohona pouring back into the new village. A few clients from other villages and countries had stopped by for a week or so and helped rebuild bridges and tall buildings that ninjutsu just wouldn't cover. Sasuke stood atop the Hokage tower and sat down quietly. Pulling out an icha icha book Kakashi had given him as a present when he returned he started to read it. He laid down after awhile and watched the clouds and wondered where his life had gone, and where Akatsuki was looking for him.

_`*~-.-~*`_

Everyone awoke to finish rebuilding at 6am sharp as usual. There was no carp about the crappy weather anymore, just silence. People walked silently in the fog going to set up shops and ninjas jumped atop rooftops to distinguish themselves from civilians. Most families that had children had moved to other villages that were less dark and depressing. This village had seen nothing but war in the past year and children were not to be shown this part of the world yet.

Madara stood tall atop the mountains and sighed quietly. There was no escaping emotions was there? Was he doomed to be the only one who actually could kill without thought? Thoughts made him shudder at the pathetic village for their compassion for one another. No, the weak would be killed last he decided. That way they fear for their sorry lives even more than before. Clenching his fists towards the sky he reached towards the moon, the last part of his plan. Akatsuki was a waste of time, after all he had been closely monitoring them. Only Pein knew who the real boss was and it definitely was never him. He deserved to die, how was it someone with such power could just throw it away by someone else's words? Pein was paltry in the end and his blades just never honed enough. Madara jumped into the distance and away from Kohona, where his prizes lay.

They all looked up simultaneously as they lay on the grassy field. Hanging over the edge the world seemed all too miniscule. It was amazing how fast people truly gave up on life and their dreams and goals. Shaking her head she looked over to see her two favorite boys staring contently up at clouds making silly faces at each other trying to charade their cloud watching. Giggling she fell back down and let herself truly feel happy. It was felicity to team 7. Kakashi stood above them all and saw their futures as sannin and prodigies. Slowly but surely he saw Sasuke bring out an orange book that looked quite familiar. Chuckling to himself he sighed a moment later and saw Sakura shaking her head and holding the book in her hands. A horrified Naruto and Sasuke saw her open to the first page...

and then she burned it.

"That is valuable literature Sakura, please don't carelessly throw it around!"

he stated as calmly as he could. Shock was written everywhere and she thrust the flaming book into his mask. Some problems are never meant to be fixed he supposed. Sasuke smirked as Naruto's face became a distorted whirl of anger and distress. Kakashi put the fire out and a triumphant Sakura stood on top of the rocks her feet had just dangled over.

"I win! SHANNARO!"

* * *

she pumped her fist into the air making a small tornado of leaves due to her strength. There was a nice aura about the current situation, a family was together and it made her the happiest person alive.

* * *

**I'm having major writer's block. I'm trying to keep up a little with the actual manga plot line but of course I didn't want to kill off my favorites so it's not exact. Help with keeping all characters in character and what you think might happen next would be appreciated :] please review and let me know what you think I can do to make this better. Beta readers, hi. 3**

**Well, that's all for now I suppose. Im going to go to the doctor for more ITP treatments [so excited...] -.-**

**Sasuke says touch your toes. **

**Sasuke says touch your head.**

**Sasuke says review!**

**Everyone in the ninja world nods head approvingly***

**(") Penguin. Teehee.**


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